You can often tell how old someone is by his or her perspective of resumes.
In the “olden days”, say 15 or 20 years ago, resumes – summaries describing an individual’s last few jobs and education – were typed or printed on special fancy paper purchased from the local stationary store. Laid off employees might attend an outplacement workshop to develop a final resume. At the end of the day, they received 50 copies of their new resume, printed on nice paper to begin their job search. Then off went the prospective candidate to hand out resumes and find a job.
Young people reading this are muttering to themselves, “Typed?” “Fancy paper?” “Stationary store?” What the heck does that mean?
It is a sign of the times that things have changed so much so quickly. Business has changed. The world has changed. Resumes have changed too.
You no longer need to find a secretary to type your resume professionally. You do not need special paper from a special stationary store (translation: stationary = paper) to use exclusively for business purposes.
I still have printed copies of old resumes in my file cabinet. Maybe you do too. If you do, then you probably are one of the parents who advise their children to seek out a professional to write their resume. Those parents believe that a fancy, printed resume these days is the ticket to a new job; they still believe that resumes are static and must be professionally prepared.
Do not get me wrong. Part of our service is writing resumes for people. We are glad to do it. However, technology has changed the world. As a result, resumes have a different role in today’s job search.
Resumes have a new role in the 3.0 generation. Resumes are one of many tools required by job searchers. However, they are not necessarily the centerpiece of today’s job search as they were in the past. Your job search is flexible; it is personalized to your interests. Therefore, to support that job search, your tools must be flexible as well. Today we must look at resumes as a part of the strategic toolbox you will assemble for your job search.